


Get to Werkkk

by eggyeggplant



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Minor Allura/Romelle (Voltron), Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:49:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28314090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eggyeggplant/pseuds/eggyeggplant
Summary: Lance's soulmark makes it hard to get a job but he lands one as a barista at Atlas Cafe. His soulmark is 'This order is messed up' so they're just going to have to deal with whatever it is.
Relationships: Adam/Curtis/Shiro (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 284
Collections: Klance Secret Santa





	Get to Werkkk

**Author's Note:**

> This is for rosadearestart who I received as a recipient for Klance Secret Santa 2020.  
> Not sure if it's what you expected, but I hope you like it! Happy holidays!

“It’s go time,” Lance says, hyping himself up as he does a mental checklist of everything he may have forgotten to do before his interview.

Lance is not a stranger to rejections, and he absolutely 100% expects it at this point. The routine is that he’ll walk up to the interview, dressed all proper with his hair slicked back, shirt buttoned to the top with his slacks ironed professionally--and still not get the job. It’s not for lack of preparation or confidence; it’s his soul mark, a mysterious set of first words for his destined with little interpretation for meaning. Cooks, pharmacist assistants, seasonal sales associates, customer service representatives, and so many other occupations have gotten orders wrong before! Humans make mistakes; it’s inevitable! (Okay, he absolutely applied to be a purchasing agent just for kicks.)

It’s just-- _This order is messed up,_ is apparently ‘ominous’ and ‘concerning’ or something. Okay, Lance _gets_ it but people should really give him a chance! Like _boo-hoo try harder_ , but it’s honestly kinda hard to get a job when interviewers think you’re destined to fail. He’s a ‘potential liability’ or whatever, which is why no matter how much razzle-dazzle Lance puts in his interviews, it always ends with a pity smile, handshake, and a saccharine _‘we’ll contact you if we’re interested.’_

Except this time, Lance has a good feeling about this barista job at Atlas Cafe because his reference is the one and only Veronica McClain, his own sibling who so happens to be friends and former coworkers with the owner.

Said owner is Takashi Shirogane, a legend on campus: star athlete who had a full-ride scholarship that spearheaded the revolutionary Kerberos Mission revealing the existence of aliens, married his college sweetheart Adam (Award Winning Scientist and apparently has a two page foldout in Men’s Health Magazine for coming first in the 50 under 50 list,) and ‘ _retired_ ’ to a simple life of starting a small coffee shop franchise _while_ earning a reportedly hefty sum as an industry consultant on the side, and still had the time and energy to add an additional boyfriend to the mix (Mr. Beloved By Entire Campus 5 out of 5 stars on ratemyprofessor, Professor Curtis.) It’s like _hello_ , save some of the handsome men for other people in the world! Mr. Shirogane is Lance’s life idol; who else can claim that they gently let down the offer to be Mariyah Caerry’s sugar baby?

Lance didn’t believe Veronica at first, because _why_ would he? And even if he did believe her, he doesn’t have any experience making coffee and Atlas Cafe is the busiest shop on campus. Even the thought of working during rush hour makes Lance nervous. “Duh, dingus,” Veronica says, tapping on Lance’s wrist. Oh. _Oh._

“Shiro is not going to freak out if you make one wrong order. Even if you did mess up, you’re just one step closer to meeting your soulmate right? Haven’t you always wanted a meet-cute? You’d be able to stop watching Crazy, Stupid, Love all the time, or have someone to watch it with you!”

“Crazy, Stupid, Love is one of the best cinematic movies of all time, so I’d still continue watching it all the time anyways. Making drinks does sound pretty cool though,” Lance says, mulling the idea properly in his head, envisions meeting his soulmate at work and smoothly apologizing for getting their order wrong before flirtatiously writing his phone number on their cup. They’ll fall in love with Lance over drinking art lattes and it’ll be so cute and romantic.

“So you said the application is online?”

-

For all his achievements, Takashi Shirogane is incredibly humble and kind. He’s impressed by Lance’s slacks and cheerful personality, a practically perfect fit for the company.

“I’ve got to thank Veronica for setting this up because I think you’re great and would really like to hire you and get you to do some training as soon as possible if you’d like to accept my offer today. So we’re actually opening up a new shop on the other side of campus, slightly smaller and closer to the dorms so people don’t have to walk all the way across campus at night if they’re going to be pulling all-nighters. We’re looking for people with preferably flexible schedules,” Shiro says.

“You got it, Boss Man,” Lance says, excitedly throwing out a pair of finger guns and immediately regretting his decision to do so in an interview, except Shiro (albit confusedly) shoots finger guns right back.

“Call me Shiro, it’s good to have you on the team.”

-

For someone who doesn’t know too much about coffee, Lance picks up on being a barista pretty quickly after learning how to make espressos and memorizing ratios for different recipes. The amount of syrup that goes into a chocolate caramel swirl frupaccino makes Lance want to go almost feral--it’s like eating an entire pack of liquified scooba scout cookies. Lance gets so good at making drinks that he’s almost worried that he won’t actually get to meet his soulmate at Atlas Cafe. Shiro stops by every once in a while, trusting Lance’s drink making skills enough to make iced Americano for Shiro’s mysterious baby brother.

“Drinks hand delivered by his big brother,” Lance coos. Shiro laughs and lets Lance know that it’s the only way he can attempt to discreetly snoop on his brother’s life since Keith has been trying to distance himself from the Shirogane fame AKA avoiding being seen at Atlas Cafe or with his brother at all cost. Lance can kinda get it, big shoes to fill.

Regardless, it’s kind of fun making money and unexpected friendships along the way. Other new hire Hunk Garrett is an absolute genius (in their graduating class top 5, like bruh) and also an absolute _genius_ because he blitzs some strawberries with milk and calls it _the strawberry drink_ : super cute, super fun, super profitable, and super quick and easy to make. 

“Bro, can you grab more strawberries from the back? I think we’re running low.”

“I’m on it!”

“Dude, you’re amazing.”

“No, dude. _You’re_ amazing.”

It’s amazing to work with people you vibe with. Lance and Hunk are the ultimate night shift duo, sometimes united under one singular brain cell as they sing Hamleton songs at the top of their lungs, pretending they’re in a Broodway musical while closing down for the night.

“Can you start closing the register for the night while I take out the trash?”

“Yes, thanks Lance. You’re the best,” Hunk says lovingly.

“ _You’re_ the best,” Lance says, arching his arms over his head to form a big heart. Hunk mimics Lance, having their bro moment while their other co-worker Pidge locks the doors before last-minute stragglers try to rush in and order something that needs blending or espresso shots.

They have a good routine and they work really well together. When Lance looks interested in any customers, Hunk and Pidge purposely help Lance fudge up the order a bit just to wingman-check if they might be Lance’s soulmate. So far, the results are pretty dismal, but Lance is just happy to have people that have his back. They’re like a little family, affectionately calling themselves the Garrison Trio even though they all work on campus so pretty much all their customers are Garrison students (or faculty.) Of course, things don’t always work out perfectly in any workplace.

-

The source of the problem is Nyma: She’s so pretty, a verified instagram baddie who can also make a mean macchiato. With 300k followers on most of her socials, Lance admits that he was mildly starstruck when he met her and she definitely could spot it from a mile away. At some point, Lance had almost wished she was his soulmate because she was so nice and flirty with him, but he learned pretty quickly that she was 100% only interested in herself. Cover one shift and you’re being nice, covering two to three shifts every other week is downright annoying. 

Most of Lance’s liberal studies classes are online or hybrid, which is the only reason why he’s been able to be flexible with his schedule. Hunk and Pidge’s engineering courses have many morning classes that are lecture required, so they regretfully (they are not regretful at all) cannot cover morning shifts. Nyma is not even working full-time? Lance would mind less if the extra shifts were night ones, but Nyma works the opening shift and Lance’s sleep schedule is screaming at him to pick one or the other. He misses the other two-thirds of the Garrison Trio.

People are more grumpy in the morning, demanding excessive amounts of caffeine in record time because they’re running late for lecture (which is not Lance’s fault at all!) Lots of people seem to understand morning barista struggles though, so the pooled tip is usually a bit nicer. Although the good tip jar may just be because morning shift is usually run by three gorgeous ladies.

-

One other morning shift person is Allura, who is also really nice and pretty. Lance finds himself making a new friend--of course no one can ever replace Hunk as his work BFF, but Allura is more like his work twin, and that’s totally different. Allura is not a morning person, but she can grind out orders like a machine; she’s awe-inspiring and intimidating at the same time.

The third morning shift person is Allura’s roommate-slash-girlfriend-slash-soulmate Romelle, who also works morning shifts too. Romelle actually is a morning person, and she’s definitely way too chipper all the time for someone who wakes up at 4 in the morning for a 5 in the morning shift, which is why they let Romelle handle the register since Allura or sleep-deprived Lance would probably end up cussing someone out. 

Lance’s morning shift family is fiercely protective and they refuse to let Lance speak to customers about wrong orders if they think that the person ‘isn’t the right fit’ for their sunshine boy. He’s a little forlorn about getting blocked from giving his number to Mr. Looks-Like-Hairy-Styls until Romelle tells him their order was a caffeinated decaf coffee and Lance never questions their judgement ever again.

Allura and Romelle are both grad students, so they’re always pretty busy during their quote-unquote ‘free time’ writing lengthy papers and probably making out at the library. They make each other drinks and draw sharpie hearts on the cup. Even if mornings can be rough, Romelle and Allura always look so happy to be in each other’s orbits. Ugh, Lance wants what they have already.

-

Shiro wouldn’t be apologetically calling at half past 5 in the morning asking Lance to come into work the morning on his day off if he didn’t absolutely need someone. However, Nyma was a no call, no show and Allura was getting absolutely reemed by the amount of orders coming in while trying to get the store ready by herself because Romelle was legitimately sick at home. At any point Lance could just ya’know, _say no_ , but Lance is also a bit of a pushover and lives off of validation. It’s Monday, the start of the work week, so people are even more cranky than usual and demanding. Lance’s conscience, if given the choice, would never choose to let anyone suffer that alone. Nyma seriously ticked off Shiro for the last time, because Shiro finally lets her go even though they kinda need her.

“Did you really,” Lance asks, shocked by the tea Shiro is serving.

“I’m serious, Lance. You’re not the only one who has complained about her clear lack of priority for the job, and it’s not fair to everyone if I let her get away with it all the time. In the meanwhile, my brother’s agreed to help out for a bit until we can find someone new.”

“Wow, you must have bought him the PS5 or something if you got him to agree to come. Does he even know how to make coffee?”

“More like I implied he couldn’t do it and he had to prove me wrong. He watched almost fifteen youtube videos about it last night and made me a perfect decaf soy latte; he’s kind of a prodigy,” Shiro says proudly. This is coming from the man that thinks his hundred pound rottweiler is a cute little baby, so Lance takes his word with a grain of salt.

“Get to the store whenever you can, if you’re a little late it’s okay, I really appreciate you covering again.”

“It’s cool, Shiro. I’ll be there soon, you should probably get back to bed before Adam and Curtis get mad at you again for always worrying about work.” They share a laugh; Shiro thanks Lance again before hanging up. Lance has always wondered what Shiro’s brother looked like, and the intrigue is enough motivation for Lance to get out of bed and start getting ready for work.

-

Lance shows up to the sight of a curving line of people going out the door and a hot stranger sporting their employee apron hauling gallons of milk out of an old Huynda Civix car into the back employee door. Lance is intrigued, but also has a pretty good idea of all the work cut out for him once he gets inside. As much as he’d like some time to get settled, it’s a constant onslaught of work from the first second. Allura seamlessly moves out of the way for Lance to take over the cold counter while Mr. Probably-Shiro’s-Brother makes four hot drinks at once. His self-written nametag says Keith; the handwriting is poor, which is hot boy energy for reasons Lance can’t explain. Color Lance impressed. Keith gives an acknowledging nod in Lance’s direction, and Lance is maybe imagining it but Keith’s .5 second up-down glance feels like he just got checked out. Perfect day to get called in, Lance thinks.

The next person in line orders five different frupaccinos ranging from mango dragonberry to chocolate java chip with ten different modifications--Lance and Allura share a look after she hands off the order to him.

“You’re an angel,” she whispers, glad for the extra set of hands.

“ _You’re_ an angel,” Lance replies, wagging his eyebrows playfully. After Lance makes the five drinks successfully, it’s four hours of constant blending and shaking and apologizing because they ran out of cake pops and they won’t be back in stock because they’re discontinuing. Discontinuing does not mean they will be back later that day or week, and in the amount of time that Lance spends explaining that, four more customers stand in line. Rinse, repeat.

It’s one of those things where when you’re in the heat of the moment, adrenaline keeps you super focused and when things are winding down, people start making simple errors. Lance reads the order as an iced green tea instead of hot and for the first time in literally hours of working together, he hears Keith say in a gravelly voice, “This order is messed up,” before passing the drink back to Lance.

Too used to teasing his co-workers, Lance immediately responds with, “ _You’re_ messed up.”

Then Lance freezes, because they’re not close like that. Keith whirls around, brows furrowing.

“ _You!_ ” Oh. Oh my god. It’s one of those things that feel so surreal because Lance has always imagined how it would be like to meet his soulmate with varying sense of hope and dread and he’s not sure this is what he expected but he’s not mad about it.

“You’re the reason!” Keith doesn’t even have to explain it for Lance to know exactly what he’s talking about.

“I’m the reason? _You’re_ the reason!” They show each other their soulmarks and both start immediately ugly laughing because Keith’s soulmark is subjectively worse (having _You’re messed up_ on your wrist is infinitely more concerning.) It doesn’t even matter that their token Caren is tapping her feet and pointing at her watch because she can chill out for five more seconds since Lance finally met his soulmate and he’s so relieved it didn’t go badly. If anything, the way Keith offers to treat Lance to some food and maybe just chill after their shift is an indicator that things are actually going good?

-

“You have no idea how many sessions of forced therapy and counselling I had to do. Everyone was asking me about how I feel and wouldn’t take ‘feeling like eating a ham sandwich’ as an appropriate answer even though it was true!”

Lance cackles, it’s not that funny but also it is, because Keith is eagerly smiling and leaning in like he thinks Lance laughing is cute and he knows Keith honestly isn’t that mad from the way he waits for Lance to react before continuing his story. Lance feigns a punch to Keith’s arm, delightfully surprised that Keith’s packing some muscles and nearly combusts when Keith humors him and flexes.

“You’re so hot,” Lance says, like it’s all Keith’s fault he’s on cloud 9. (It is.)

‘ _You’re_ so hot,” Keith says, and that’s how Lance knows they were definitely meant to be soulmates.

-

Shiro proudly takes credit for facilitating the start of their entire relationship.

  
  



End file.
